Between the Shadows
by GCallenFan
Summary: "The Title may change" Callen has been taken by a man from his past and his team will do almost anything to save him, even if he doesn't want them to. Please read Nothing Else Matters to see why this has been discontinued :
1. Prologue

**Between the Shadows**

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own anything that has anything to with my favourite T.V Show, which is best known as NCIS: Los Angeles. Which is a pity because I would love to have some fun with either Callen or Deeks. They're my favourite characters by the way and not too mention that they are both rather hot._

**~ Prologue ~**

To see faces from ones distorted past amongst a huge crowd is bound to cause a person to turn and run, but Callen does not do either of those two. He just continues to walk onwards. Daring himself to stare into the frightening dark eyes of his estranged partner. Many years have passed since Callen had last seen Alistair Parker and the years have not been kind.

They were partners back when Callen was with the CIA. Alistair Parker was one of Callen's many string of partners and one Callen had never wanted to see ever again. Especially with what had happened between them when they'd last seen each other.

Their partnership did not end well.

It never really was a great partnership to begin with.

Feeling the pain of old wounds throb as Callen tries not to remember the events that had unfolded. That had all happened before Hetty and Callen had crossed paths, in fact if Callen remembered correctly. Hetty had even met up with him not long after Callen was discharged from the hospital.

Even till this very day no one at the CIA had ever believed Callen when he had explained to them, about the truth behind his wounds and how he had received them. No one wanted to believe the poor orphan boy, even though he was appraised by many as one of the best undercover operatives in the entire agency that was the CIA, story, they just wanted to believe that Parker had not turned his back on the mission.

Alistair Parker was the Golden Boy amongst the agency, Thomas Parker, Alistair's father, was once a former CIA agency and once was considered one of the best, that was until Thomas had met his unfortunate end in the line of duty.

There was only one person who had believe Callen's story and that single person wasn't even part of the CIA. She was part of a different kind of agency, but not even Henrietta Lange could make them all see that Parker had blinded them with lies.

And it was all because of Alistair's traitorous finger, which had pulled the trigger that, had brought Callen to become an NCIS Special Agent in the first place. He had accepted the full risks of being part a secret unit that specializes in undercover work and among other things. After all being undercover, to pretend to be someone else, is what Callen loves to do best, as well as to help others to find their missing chapters in life and to allow them to have closure.

It was Callen's mistake of losing himself in the past in the first place for not seeing, nor even hearing, everything that was happening around him. How could he have been so foolish? His instincts was jumping and screaming at him to run and make for cover. But still he does not run. He just continues on walking, unlocking his gaze from Parker's smug face to take in the sight of a black van moving slowly towards him.

He was trapped; he had nowhere else to run too. He couldn't risk the innocent civilians to be harmed because of him. There were just too many uncalculated risks that Callen may need to make soon, hopefully before that van's passengers pluck him from the crowd.

But it was all too late for Callen to hide away amongst the crowd.

He didn't feel or even remember anyone shoving a bag to cover his face, nor did he remember blacking out.

One thing that Callen did know for sure is that Sam is going, with a little help from Kensi, who'll be aided by Deeks, to do nasty things to him if Sam were ever to find out about this.

_To be continued . . . . . . . ._

**A/N:** _I __know __that __this __is __a __tad __short __but __it __is __just __only __the __prologue. __I __gotta __leave __you __all __to __stew __on __your __thoughts __and __to __allow __you __to __ponder __on __what __is __to __come, __and __most __importantly __what __is __to __happen __to __our __fearless __leader. __You __don't __have __to __review __if __you __want __but __it __wouldn't __hurt __either. __This __after __all __my __first __NCIS: __LA __cover __story._


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N ~ **_I would like to mention that I am sincerely thankful to all of those who had kindly reviewed my last postage. Especially to those whom I couldn't reply too, you all have no idea how I'd felt knowing that there is some out there reading my story. I also cannot tell you all just how many alternative versions on how I was going to take this story to. At one point I was going to have the most of the story told from Deeks' point of view of what is happening after the team had discovered Callen's disappearance but than I had another idea on how to tell this story. I also had written out another chapter of Sam being the one to discover that his partner had been taken and then this idea popped inside my head and it was then that I knew that this is how it is going to be told. I also hope that you would all enjoy the story and do not hesitate to me about seeing some mistakes of any kind that I had missed._

**~1~**

It truly was a glorious morning in the City of Angels; nothing seemed to be out of place and hopefully there wouldn't be anyone trying to invent new ways on how to commit a crime, with out having to worry about the police tracking them down. But of course there'll always be at least someone, or someone's significant other, trying to commit a crime somewhere in this city, that'll leave cops to second guess themselves if they have found the right clue or not.

And it could be just Sam's wishful thinking, as he parks his Challenger in his usual parking space at headquarters, the secret hide-out that Hetty herself had hand picked when they were looking for a new office after Callen's shooting, which in fact had happened nearly two years ago if Sam remembers correctly, but then he doesn't particularly like to remember the day that his best friend had nearly died in his arms.

Today is the 5th of May, the second anniversary of Callen's drive-by shooting, and so Sam's thoughts may stray back a little today.

He glances towards the man himself, G Callen, his partner of nearly four years.

They've been partners for almost four years and still Sam is amazed at just how the two of them could work together so well. They are both completely different people thrust together to a make a difference in the world.

True they didn't click straight away when they were first partnered, thanks to Hetty's ingenious thinking.

It was also thanks to Hetty's ingenious plans on partnering Kensi up with Deeks, and at first Sam wasn't sure that it was such a good idea, seeing as they were all still getting over Dom's unfortunate passing, and it was exceptionally tough for Kensi.

It says that is 9:35 on Sam's watch, when he had briefly got a glimpse of the time, and if everyone had known Sam long enough by now. They would all know that he is never late. He always makes sure that he gets to work at the right time, or preferably a few minutes earlier.

And it was all because of Callen, seeing as it was because of he, that Sam had to stop by so he could satisfy his partner's hunger for some donuts, which is by the way an unhealthy breakfast, but what could Sam say. It's Callen. The man is a mystery. Even after all these years and all of those tough cases they've worked together on and still Sam finds his partner a mystery.

Grumbling and muttering under his breath, Sam hops out of his black challenger.

"Someone's a tad grumpy this morning?" Callen's voice broke through Sam's train of thoughts.

"A tad grumpy is an understatement considering that we are five minutes late for work and it was all because you had a sudden graving for donuts," Sam grudgingly replied with a smirk. "I can't believe I had fallen for that old trick of yours and it certainly didn't my cause all that much when you'd pulled that puppy-eyed trick on me."

"And you fell for it," Callen says to Sam in wry tone of voice. "I could also tell that you wanted to grab some donuts as well. "

"So all of this my fault now?" Sam places a hand on his chest as he looks directly at his partner. Trying to make himself to appear innocent.

"You know that won't work on me, Sam?" Callen just grins at his partner's antics. "It hasn't worked for me during these past years. So why should it start working on me now."

"You'll be the one explaining this one to Hetty," Sam said, with a smirk of his own.

They then had both entered through the office doors, walking side by side. They only stopped walking when they'd come to the bullpen to find their youngest agent and Detective arguing, again, amongst themselves.

"You're late," Deeks comments on the sudden appearance of Sam and Callen. "And you brought donuts."

It wasn't a question on Deeks' part as his eyes are now resting firmly on the bag of donuts, which Callen is holding one hand.

"Good detective skills you have there detective," Sam grudgingly says to other man.

"Yes well I wouldn't be a detective if I couldn't detect the obvious," Deeks drawls out his sneaky comment.

Just when Sam was going to say something to the annoying blonde, who was saved by Eric's whistle. Indicating that they have case and Callen could clearly see Deeks sighing with relief, but there was still a smirk available for all to witness.

One by one three agents and one detective trudged up the stairs, so they could reach the Ops Centre.

And here Sam's wishful thinking of having a rare day off from solving crime had been diminished the moment Eric whistled. He also has this feeling of dread beginning to stir in his stomach. Almost as though foreseeing that something wicked is coming their way and for once he just hopes that his instincts are wrong. But he wasn't going to ignore them until this case has been solved, that way he'll know that his instincts were just over-reacting.

He hoped.

***~#~*~#~*~#~***

The moment Callen and the others had stepped inside the Ops centre, the place where everyone can be debriefed on a new case and to find hidden objects that only a camera can find. Callen can remember the first time he'd entered the Ops Centre and he was surprisingly taken by the uniqueness of the room.

They'd all had taken notice of the sudden appearance of Nate Getz, the Team Operational Psychologist, and Special Agent Mike Renko standing next to Hetty.

No one had seen Nate since Yemen.

And so it had all become bit of a shock to them all to see him. For no one had heard about Nate returning to LA, Hetty had most likely had some knowledge on Nate's return but had chosen to keep it as a surprise. And what a surprise it is.

No good news is going to come from this debrief. Especially, now with Nate, and Mike, being present in the Ops Centre.

There is only one way to find out is to hear the words, which is most likely to come out of the mouths of Nate and Renko.

"What do we have?" Callen asks the five that were already present in the room.

"Mr Callen, glad that you could join us," Hetty says to her lead agent in a grave tone, which had sent Callen's senses tingling.

"Why what happened?" Callen asks, this time looking directly at his tiny little boss.

"A lot has happened during the past twenty-four hours and I'll leave it for Mr Renko to explain," Hetty replied.

At that everyone's attention was solely focused on Renko, who was leaning against the black table, which has a huge slab of glass glued on top to give it that extra shine when lights go out in the Ops Centre.

"Two days ago I had met up with Nate in Dubai to gather Intel on a rogue operative, whose name we do not know for certain. As he has many alias," as Renko said this Eric had typed something on his keyboard to command the pictures of a man.

Callen had to stop himself from stepping forward, not believing his eyes nor the words flowing from Renko's tongue. Callen hasn't seen that face in eight years or more. And it isn't a face he wanted to see ever again. Covertly he turned his gaze away from those dark cold eyes, to meet Hetty's warm blue eyes.

He only broke eye contact when Renko continues his speech.

"This rogue has murdered a Marine, who was off duty and spending some quality time with wife and children. The Marine was tortured beyond recognition. The only piece of evidence we'd found on Toby Jackson was a note," Renko pauses once again to allow everyone to soak in every word he has spoken.

Eric magically types something on his keyboard to have the note, Renko had mentioned, to show on the big screen. The note appears to have been hand written in blood.

"Please don't tell me that this guy had killed Jackson just to use blood as ink?" Sam harshly questions the two men responsible for bringing this news to them.

"That could be one of the reasons," Nate decided to pick up from where Renko had left off and to give them all an insight into this mysterious rogues intentions. "But this John Doe, that we are yet to identify as Renko had said is not yet been named, has clearly written this note for a specific person and that specific person lives right here in LA."

Callen didn't know how much longer it would take for him to make a noise, or even better yet. Try and sneak out of the room without anyone noticing, but that would be difficult. Considering that he standing between Sam and Deeks, and also not to mention the subtle looks Hetty has secretly been sending his way. Which probably meant that Hetty knows what Callen would love to do right now, but then Hetty knows the man in the pictures as well.

They both know of the history of which Callen has shared with the rogue operative. Callen also has this suspicion that Alistair Parker, the man in the photographs, is after him to finish what Alistair didn't get the chance of finishing.

Parker had killed a Marine in Dubai. Tortured the poor man to what end Callen wouldn't know but one other thing that Callen isn't sure of, is just how Parker had known that Callen had joined NCIS.

" – We've been trying to find this man well before we knew about Jackson's torture - " Callen wasn't fully aware that Nate had been speaking this whole time he'd been swallowed by his history with Parker, the man Renko and Nate have called John Doe.

Discreetly Callen mentally shook himself, commanding his lone wolf instincts to quit kicking in. He just hopes that his façade of what this John Doe is doing to him internally doesn't show for all to see. He wouldn't be surprised if there were a few cracks beginning to show, but he does hope that the cracks are only visible for those able to see.

"We have even made some inquiries about him to some of the other agencies like, the CIA, FBI, NSA, DEA, and the like, but no one seems to claim that they have any knowledge on who this man is. All the information that we were able to grab is what out our man, Doe, looks like and that he once was an operative," Nate continues his forlorn speech. "That is basically all of the information we have to explain and also to tell you that we have lost track of him the moment Doe had stepped foot in LA."

Nate took a big a gulp of fresh air, to feed his oxygen hungry lungs.

"So our job is to aid you in finding John Doe a name -"

"His name is Alistair Parker," Callen wasn't aware that his lips had found the will to speak with out his knowledge, or that he had just cut Sam off from speaking, but he was well aware of the heated gazes, full of concern, confusion and other emotions and feelings, focusing on him the moment Callen had opened his big mouth.

"You know him, G?" Sam asks Callen and his voice was laced with concern for his partner.

Callen reluctantly nods his head, not trusting himself to speak any further, while knowing that he has no little choice but to trust his team with another dark chapter to his story.

"He tried to kill me once," was all that Callen says.

And that is when he'd found his chance to walk out of the Ops Centre, feeling his team's eyes tracking him as he left them without a word.

***~#~*~#~*~#~***


End file.
